MERIDEN — An ambitious strategy to spark economic growth in Connecticut's aging city centers is taking shape in Meriden.

On one side of Colony Street, a steel skeleton is on its way to becoming Meriden's new train station on the New Haven-to-Hartford rail line. Across the street, a 63-unit apartment building of affordable housing and market-rate housing and parking garage also are going up, giving form to a mix of housing, retail space and parking.

The downtown development is what policymakers call a "transit-oriented district," a compact neighborhood of apartments, shops, parking space and public transportation all within walking distance.

"It's a super-complicated multitude of projects," Meriden City Councilor David Lowell said. "It's been a decade of hard work."

The Meriden projects, which include a park redesigned to stem frequent flooding, are just a few of those planned for central Connecticut. Other transit-oriented districts are envisioned along the New Haven-to-Hartford rail line, which is being upgraded to accommodate increased — and faster — train service in central Connecticut, and along the route of CTfastrak, the state's half-billion-dollar bus-only corridor between Hartford and New Britain. Commuter service along the Hartford Line is scheduled to begin in 2018.

HARTFORD — As part of its campaign to build economic development through better mass transportation, Gov. Dannel P. Malloy's administration is giving about $6.4 million to 11 communities to spur residential or commercial growth near transit hubs.

Most of the grants are intended to attract businesses...

(DON STACOM)

The districts are intended to spur a revival in downtowns that have been undermined by population flights following years of job losses and steep declines in manufacturing and other industries. In addition, they are planned for rail lines and CTfastrak routes intended to speed transportation, spurring job growth.

Connecticut Transportation Commissioner James Redeker said state and federal spending on rail lines and the bus-only corridor are driving private investment.

"That is the power of a fixed investment in mass transit," he said. "It's minor seed money for significant multiplier outcomes," he said.

(Emily Kask)

Redeker said developers already have been attracted to CTFastrak's West Hartford stop in the Elmwood neighborhood. The West Hartford Housing Authority is moving forward with a mixed-use development at the station near New Britain Avenue.

"To me, that was a success way before its time," he said.

Plans are in the works for transit-oriented districts across the state. Gov. Dannel P. Malloy recently announced state grants of $125,000 for a master plan at the Branford rail station, $137,000 to acquire and do initial work on properties adjacent to a planned commuter station in Windsor Locks, $225,000 for a study for downtown Danbury and $440,000 for a master plan at Westport's Saugatuck rail station.

In addition, Hartford is receiving $2 million to correct water overflow and improve pedestrian and bicyclist links to public transit. New Canaan, Old Saybrook and Waterbury will get about $450,000 for projects such as building walkways and making initial plans for a transit-oriented district.

The General Assembly also has approved $15 million in bond authorization for planning, construction and other work related to transit-oriented districts for CTfastrak and the Hartford, New Haven and Shoreline East rail lines, said Garrett Eucalitto, an undersecretary at the state Office of Policy and Management.

In Meriden, about $110 million in state and federal money and private investment have financed four projects: the apartment building and parking garage project, a train station, another development of market-rate and affordable housing and a flood-control project.

Meriden City Councilor Walter A. Shamock has criticized the public spending. He's skeptical that the new train station will draw enough commuters who will spend money in downtown.

"There was some concern, some speculation that with the railroad, are people going to stop and shop in Meriden," he said. "Whoever heard of that in Meriden?"

Shamock also said officials are "saturating downtown" with affordable housing.

"You never come back commercially with all that affordable housing," he said.

Nationally, transit-oriented developments are growing in number as residents give up on traffic congestion, suburbs fall out of favor and cities become increasingly popular, according to the Transit Oriented Development Institute. Others attracted to cities include single people and older couples whose grown children have moved out.

"Cities are coming back to life and suburbs are congested," said Andy Kunz, president and chief executive officer.

Mayor Erin Stewart said the CTfastrak route that terminates in New Britain is her "favorite topic to talk about" because of its potential to revitalize areas of the city.

New Britain received $3 million in state economic development funding to clean up a polluted site at a former police station that will be torn down to make room for new development. Stewart also is seeking to draw housing development in walking distance of CTfastrak.

"The millennial generation does not want to use cars," she said. "They want an apartment, not a house with a white picket fence and a big backyard."

She said the public-private spending on transit-oriented districts will ultimately improve Connecticut's business climate.

"If you provide business owners with access to parking and safe sidewalks, I certainly would say that's improving the business climate in the downtown New Britain area," she said. "People want to invest in cities that are investing in themselves."